Burning
by blackcatwhitewolf
Summary: Her mother lied to her. Her father's the god of lies. And she lies to herself. No slash, Loki/OC, potential Mary Sues. More warnings inside. R/R!
1. Chapter 1

**Warnings: This is T because everything will go to heck at some point or other, and the main character's a potty mouth. I don't think that anyone here's a Mary Sue, if they are tell me how they are/what to fix. Oh, and I'm using British English spelling, so that's not an issue.**

Just another Midgardian. Plain, compared to the women of Asgard. But in her own right, she was beautiful. Long honey-coloured hair, and deep hazel eyes on a short, thick frame. She was smart, and seemed to sense things before they were there. Loki fell for her immediately. He courted her, she returned the feelings, and in a three-month whirlwind romance, she became pregnant.

Then he tried to rule Midgard.

"Why? Why would you want that?" she asked as he came in one night to the tiny apartment where she lived.

"Together we will rule. You will be a queen, don't you want that?" she shook her head.

"These are… these are my people. I'm a 'Midgardian', as you put it, so why do you want me? why would you do this?" she paced the length of the living room, about four strides.

"Amanda, all I want is for you to be happy." His voice was level as he leaned against the wall.

"I am happy. I have love, I'm going to have a child, why don't you just stop this insane plan and help me raise her?" her voice was shrill, piercing him.

"When Midgard is mine I'll help you."

"And if you fail?" her voice became a whisper.

"Then you need not worry. I will not trouble you again." he said calmly.

"If you fail… remember me? if you win, remember me… I'm only a 'Midgardian', after all."

"No, no, no… you're much more." Loki told her. He walked over to her, handing her two chains. On one was a glowing orb, on the other, an ice-blue jewel.

"As a final gift." He said. she took the necklaces and closed them in her fist. He smiled, planted a kiss on her forehead, and left.

He didn't return.

She watched the news as Loki was led away. She cursed herself for letting him woo her, for loving someone who chose power over her. She turned off the TV and stopped thinking about him. She forced her thoughts out of her head, put away all feelings, and prepared to raise a child alone.

And it was a strange child. A girl, small at birth, paler than her father. She had black hair like Loki, but for eyes, completely feline. Yellow with cat's pupils. The nurses had been surprised, fearful even, when she opened her golden orbs. Amanda was too tired to react, only to tell them that the girl's name was Keldra. She assumed that her looks would be the only anomaly. She was wrong.

The girl's powers began to manifest when she was one. her temper tantrums, of which there were many, would drive up the heat in the room. As she grew older, fire would catch around her. The first time she saw a cat, a tabby outside their window, she pressed her face to the glass, and turned into a black kitten. She changed back quickly, though, and of those two powers, the shifting was the only one she could truly control.

And of course there were her heightened senses. Whether it was because of her mother or her feline nature, or a mix of both, she could hear everything, from the insects in the walls to the birds outside. She could see in sharp detail, picking up every little movement. She could also smell everything. She was a master at detecting emotion. When one of Amanda's boyfriends lied about where he'd been, Keldra knew it. She called him out, forced the truth out from him, that he was sleeping with another woman, and he'd dumped Amanda soon after. She knew when people were angry or scared, and could track them as well.

Amanda taught her very early on that she had to keep her powers a secret. At first it was a game, but spiraled into a way of life for her: a web of question evading, lies, and confusion. She had fun twisting people around in circles, throwing them into confusion over the tiniest things.

She ended up alone, though. People wouldn't talk to her, instead whispering in the corners about the strange kid with cat eyes. She heard it all.


	2. Chapter 2

Keldra hiked up her backpack on her shoulders, standing on the patio of the Starbucks. She walked in, got a latte, and went out in the sun to work on her history. She flipped through the pages of the textbook, taking notes on the plague absentmindedly, when she heard someone talking to her. She looked up at a boy around her age. He was really good-looking, long brown hair and dark brown eyes. He met her gaze straight on, grinning a little. She smiled softly, a bit shy.

"Hey. You went to the elementary school here a few years back, didn't you? It's Keldra, right?" She nodded. "I was going to talk to you, but I had to go somewhere and when I got back you were gone."

"Well, I'm here now." Keldra shrugged. She fiddled with the pages of her notebook. "What's your name again?"

"Jake. Where are you going to school now?"

"I'm being homeschooled." She replied. He nodded.

"What are you learning?" He asked.

"Plague. I've never trusted rats, and even less now. And fleas. And doctors." She told him. He laughed a bit at her list.

"I don't like doctors or dentists, myself."

"How about rats?"

"Eh. I don't care, as long as they stay away from me." He said.

"Rats don't stay away from me. Neither do mice. They live in our walls."

"Wow. Where do you live?"

"Apartment. Over by the train tracks." She said. She was getting nervous, she didn't like giving people more than vague pieces of information, and she was worried he'd ask for a specific building.

"Ah. Ok, then." She sighed internally as he dropped the subject.

"Hey, Nick! We need your opinion on this computer!" Someone shouted from the door to the Starbucks. He looked over.

"Fine! I'll be right there!" he shouted back. "Sorry, they're pretty persistent." He apologized. Keldra shrugged, smiling slightly.

"It's fine." She told him.

"All right. I'll see you later, okay?" he said, and went back inside. She leaned back over her book, doodling a picture of one of the plague doctors and their masks. She ignored the girl who stalked out of the Starbucks and over to her.

"What are you doing?" she froze. She looked over at another teenaged girl. She was much taller, however, and stared down at Keldra with light blue eyes.

"Drawing. What does it look like?"

"No, I'm talking about Jake. He's too good for you."

"Why's that, Leslie?" Keldra asked through gritted teeth.

"You know why. You can't keep friends, how could you possibly keep a boyfriend?" Leslie asked, almost growling. When Keldra first met her and saw what she was like when she got mad, Keldra had thought that Leslie could change into an animal as well.

"I never said that's what I-"

"It's written all over your face! Don't you dare try to lie to me, Keldra. You've done enough of that."

"Oh? When did I lie?"

"When you said you were normal. I asked why it was so hot in the room, asked if you had powers, and you denied it."

"I don't have-"

"You took out an entire soccer field! There was nothing left except for burned dirt!"

"So? The girl was making fun of me. She called me a freak, Leslie."

"And you threw a fireball at her! How does that contradict her statement?"

"Let's get back to the subject here-"

"That is the subject here! You'll end up lighting his head on fire! No. You stay away from him. Away from me. Because no matter what, you will break something. Something will burn. Someone will get hurt." The girl walked away, back toward the building. Keldra grabbed her books and stuffed them back into her backpack.

"You are a freak." The last part was a whisper, but Keldra heard it like a shout and it felt like a backhanded slap.

She felt fire, heard the click of a lighter, and her eyes glowed. She growled like an animal and snapped her head towards the girl. A red streak of flame hit the table and bed of plants next to her, some of the mulch exploding and flying out into the road. Keldra's eyes widened as they returned to their normal colour. The girl turned and looked at her, and Keldra ran, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

She practically flew down the alley, focusing on the feline form and shifting into a cat. She gritted her teeth as her bones and muscles realigned themselves, and she shrunk into a black cat. She ignored the child watching her. She ran past the interstate and back into the residential area, never slowing down until she was in front of their small apartment complex.

Keldra shifted back and collapsed on the steps, slumping over into as small a ball as she could get. Shifting always hurt when she had more clothes or things on her body than just a shirt, pants and shoes. Her jacket and backpack would have to mesh with her back, compressing against her, and though she didn't know how the magic worked exactly, she was a bit grateful toward that aspect of it. She smacked her forehead as what she did finally caught up with her.

She burned something again. She blew something up. She could have hurt someone, she probably did hurt someone. She remembered her mother's angered, pained face at the last time she lost control. There was a reason why she stayed at home. There was a reason why she had no friends. There was a reason for it all.

She could hold fire, but the fire controlled her. She could manipulate heat. She could drive the temperature up, but she had also brought it down to an icy cold once. That had been when she learned that her grandmother, her Nana, had died. She had let out a piercing scream, and broke the thermostats for the entire building, and brought it down below freezing. Amanda had opened up the windows in their apartment because it was warmer outside in January than it was inside. Keldra had gotten so drained that she didn't move for a week.

She shook her head, driving out fear and anger, letting a cold mask slip onto her face. How would she trick her mother? She'd have to use more fire. Heat up the apartment. Tell her mother carefully selected bits of what happened. She could do this. She'd done it lots of times.

Keldra went into the apartment building and climbed the stairs, ready to explain things to her mother.

"What are you doing?" Amanda asked. "I thought the apartment was on fire again." she walked into the tiny room. Keldra closed her fists, crushing the small flames that she held in her palms.

_Time to lie. Keep your face in check, don't give anything away._ Keldra thought, taking a breath.

"I took my schoolwork down to the café a block from here. There was some girl who began telling a really cute guy about me. When I made a move to talk to him, she stood in front of me, said 'He doesn't talk to freaks.' I got mad and left."

"You didn't set anything on fire?" Amanda asked worriedly.

"No, mom. Not this time."

"Well, I'm glad you're home. I'm leaving in five minutes, is there anything you need?" she asked.

"Nah. Have fun."

"Oh, I'm sure I will. Dinner rush at McDonald's." Amanda rolled her eyes and gathered up her keys and wallet, shoving them both into her pockets. "I'll be giving you your end-of-year test tomorrow. You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Keldra said.

"Good. See you tomorrow." Amanda said and left. Keldra sighed and flopped on the couch.

Just a little lie, nothing big. Nothing that would hurt anyone. That's what Keldra told herself as she laid down on the couch.


End file.
